My son as been asking a lot about fractions lately. Since he hasn’t done a whole bunch about fractions in school yet, I wanted to keep it simple. The best part is that you can adjust this idea to your child’s specific learning goals. My goal with this simple fraction game was to have him think of fractions. I wanted him to think of the game pieces as thirds and quarters and what that means. That is why you only need 3 in a row to win if they are thirds but need four if they are quarters. Although we didn’t have other fractions included in the game pieces, we did talk about them. Next time we play, I plan to adjust the way we play to include a few 1/2, 2/3, and 3/4 pieces.
He beat me both times, fair and square but that’s just a side note. Here is how we made and played this fraction game.
Gather your materials. You will need a connect four game ( affiliate link), some masking tape or small labels, a marker, and a kid who wants to win at everything.
Cut small pieces of tape to fit on the inside of the tokens. Write 1/3 on half and 1/4 on the rest. Make sure it’s split evenly between the two colors.
Invite your competitive math genius to come play!
The goal of the game is to make a whole by lining up four quarters or 3 thirds of the same color in a row.
It takes some strategy …
And he won!
Then he won, again and again, I wish I could say that I let him win, but Mama don’t play like that!
Cait Fitz @ My Little Poppies says
What a fun way to work in some fraction practice. I always lurk here. I love your ideas but this one hit home because we are game-addicted *and* about to practice fractions 🙂
lily says
i am using this idea but changing it a little bit for my math game competition here in Singapore
!!!!!! 🙂
Pattie says
I’m intrigued ~ what do you include in your math game competition?
~ joey ~ says
Love this! And it gives me an excuse to buy that Connect Four game at the Thrift Shop I saw yesterday!
~ joey ~
Pattie says
I love the idea of using Connect Four. My fourth graders are beyond this, but I think maybe I can modify it and use equivalent fractions.
Karen says
Can you tell me how you are using it for equivalent fractions?
Ilana Masri says
Hi! Was wondering if you ever did modify this game for your fourth graders and how did it work?
Christina says
Oh! We need to work on fractions this year, and we have a travel version of Connect 4. This is going to be a huge hit with my game-loving and math-loving son. Awesome!
Melodie Gross says
This looks like a great idea! I have a few questions though…first you stated that you planned to adjust the way we play to include a few 1/2, 2/3, and 3/4 pieces. How did this adjustment work? How many of each fraction did you end up with? Does it matter if all the same fraction are the same color? Or should you vary the color and the fraction? One photo shows 1/3 as a yellow and as a red.
Thank you-I’d like to give this a try!
Allison McDonald says
I would add in probably 6 1/2 ( color doesn’t matter really it’s just a scaffold), a few 3/4, and a few 2/3. The game would progress very very quickly with 3/4 and 2/3 pieces so you may want to make it the person with the MOST whole numbers and keep tally.